Friday, December 22, 2006

The past year has been quite eventful in United Soccer Leagues as the organization celebrated its 20th Anniversary. Sixteen champions were crowned in six leagues as over 100 clubs competed for the USL First Division, USL Second Division, Premier Development League and W-League titles and over 750 teams competed for glory in the USL Super-20 League and Super Y-League. Here’s a look at 10 of the top moments from the past year.

The USL office will be closed until January 2. We hope you enjoy the Holidays!

10… Former USL PDL player finishes third at World Cup
While the 2006 World Cup may have been one many US fans will not want to remember, it was one the host German faithful, as well as a group of Southern Californians, will never forget. Despite being much maligned by the German press for his management of the National Team from his Los Angeles home, Juergen Klinsmann went on to lead Germany to success at the World Cup with a third place finish just three years after playing in the USL Premier Development League with the Orange County Blue Star. That’s right, the German star played in the PDL while assisting the Blue Star in the development of the players and often suited up alongside the young prospects to show them how it was done, more or less establishing the beginning of his coaching career. He saw action in eight games in the 2003 season, scoring five goals and three assists while playing under the alias ‘Jay Goppingen’ (the name of his hometown) to avoid any unwarranted attention.

Also at the World Cup… The smallest country in the World Cup, Trinidad & Tobago pulled off what was one of the biggest upsets of the tournament in Dortmund. Led by three-year USL defender Brent Sancho, who was excellent in the back, T&T played heavy favorite Sweden to a 0-0 draw despite playing a man down for nearly the entire second half. Behind several spectacular saves from last minute starting goalkeeper Shaka Hislop and the leadership of Dwight Yorke, the squad continued to control the match and turn away the opportunities Sweden did create. Playing with the disadvantage, former USL striker Stern John did not have many opportunities to give T&T a winner. Experience USL at the World Cup again.

9… Richmond wins elusive third title
The Richmond Kickers won their third championship in team history, claiming the USL Second Division title 11 years after claiming the double of the league and US Open Cup titles in 1995 with a 2-1 win over Charlotte. While many teams still await their first championship, the Kickers had been agonizingly close to winning a championship in the 11-year span since the double, reaching the USL Second Division Championship in 1996 and the USL First Division Championship in 2002 and 2005. Even more tortuous was the narrow defeats they suffered in the USL-1 finals, falling in overtime in Milwaukee and in penalty kicks at Seattle, respectively. From the outset, the Kickers dominated USL-2 in their first season back since 1996, rolling off a run of 9-0-2 after opening with a 1-0 loss to Cincinnati. They went on to win the regular season by 11 points at 13-3-4 and capture nearly every individual honor. They avenged the loss to Cincinnati with a 2-1 aggregate win in the Semifinals before dethroning the defending champion Eagles in the final (video).

8… Islanders make playoff debut, get shot at Champions Cup
Steady progress has been the standard for the Puerto Rico Islanders, who, as a concept, were a leap outside of the box three years ago when the announcement was made that they would be first USL team outside of the US or Canada to compete. For an expansion side, the club did admirably in their inaugural 2004 campaign and finished 10-10-8 the following year, a record that was just shy of the playoffs in 2005, but got them in as the sixth seed this season. The Islanders nearly advanced to the semifinals, playing to a 2-2 draw in Charleston in the first leg, but were unable to clinch the series win at home, falling 1-0 to the Battery in the second leg. Puerto Rico’s success on and off the field, however, netted the club a spot in the Caribbean qualification tournament for the CONCACAF Champions Cup and was named host of their group. The Islanders won the first match of the triangular, but fell to Group C winner W Connection of Trinidad & Tobago in the second 1-0.

7… Four more teams complete Unbeaten Seasons
The unbeaten season is a daunting task for senior level clubs in USL. The PDL and W-League saw two teams each join a select list of 15 others after none had accomplished the feat in 2005. The Carolina Dynamo and Cape Cod Crusaders both finished 14-0-2 for the year in the PDL with Carolina taking the regular season title on tiebreakers. As has become tradition for top seeds in the PDL, both were eliminated in the playoffs. In the W-League, the defending champion New Jersey Wildcats went a perfect 14-0-0 before being knocked out in the playoffs, while the Vancouver Whitecaps went 11-0-1 on their way to the championship. Both had gone unbeaten for a second time after doing so in 2004. The previous PDL unbeatens are the 2004 Chicago Fire Premier (17-0-1), 2004 South Jersey Barons (14-0-4), 2002 Des Moines Menace (15-0-3), 1998 Jackson Chargers (16-0) and 1994 Minnesota Thunder (18-0). The previous W-League unbeatens are 2004 Vancouver Whitecaps* (13-0-1), 2004 New Jersey Wildcats (14-0-0), 2004 Chicago Cobras (12-0-1), 2003 Hampton Roads Piranhas* (12-0-0), 2003 Boston Renegades (13-0-1), 2000 Raleigh Wings (12-0-2), 2000 Chicago Cobras* (14-0-0), 1999 Raleigh Wings* (14-0), 1999 Chicago Cobras (14-0). * Denotes the team also won the championship.

6… Washington Freedom win first USL Super-20 title
A youth club forged from the former WUSA side, the Freedom played in the inaugural USL Super-20 League and captured the women’s title with a bit of perseverance. The side went 9-1-0 for the season to advance to the North American Finals held in Epping, New Hampshire. The Freedom’s lone loss of the year came at the hands of division rival Parsippany SC 3-2 in July and in the championship it was another shot at redemption. A day earlier saw the same two sides standing at a stalemate through 80-plus minutes in the final match of group play. A stoppage time goal for Parsippany landed them a 1-0 victory – their only prize, a morning rematch with ten-fold implications. Tied at 1-1, the championship match went to overtime and, ultimately, penalty kicks, where the Freedom finally won out 3-1 in the tiebreaker. After also playing an exhibition schedule in the W-League last year, the club became a full member for 2007. On the men’s side, Miami-based West Kendall and the New York Red Bulls battled to a 1-1 draw and another penalty kick with West Kendall claiming the title 7-6 in eight rounds of the tiebreaker with goalkeeper Diego Restrepo knocking home the winning shot from the mark.

5… Bucks finally win PDL title
The Michigan Bucks scored twice in the first nine minutes of an action-packed Premier Development League Championship match in Laredo, edging the host Heat 2-1 in front of nearly 7,000 fans. One of the most storied and successful clubs in league history, the Bucks finally won their first league title in their 11th season and 10th playoff appearance. Ironically, the championship run for the Bucks came from the 13th-seeded position, the lowest ever in league history. Along the way they knocked off third-seeded Boulder (4-0), fourth-seeded Chicago (4-1) and ninth-seeded Orange County (2-0) before topping the fifth-seeded Heat in the final (video).

4… Schulz Academy three-peats in SYL
Perhaps it was fitting they were the last team to win on the day at the 2006 Super Y-League North American Finals as Schulz Academy edged Los Angeles FC 1-0 in the U16 Boys final to claim their third straight Super Y-League championship after winning the U14 and U15 titles the past two seasons, becoming the first-ever club to accomplish the feat. It didn’t look like they would be successful in defending their title, having lost star players such as Josmer Altidore to professional careers and coming in as the second place club out of the Southeast Division at 5-1-3, but they went 2-0-1 in their group and topped DVSC 2-1 in the semifinals before edging out the Coast Soccer League side from LA on a thrilling second half winner.

3… Vancouver captures the ‘USL Double’
The Whitecaps Women have been a dominant force in the W-League since their debut in 2001, but despite just one loss each in their first three seasons, they came up short in the postseason just as their male counterparts had done in the USL First Division. The W-League side broke through with a championship in 2004, but the USL-1 side was still unable to find that postseason glory until this year. The USL-1 side opened their campaign with one loss in their first 12 as they stayed near the top of the table throughout the course of the season, and as usual the W-League team dominated, finishing the regular season campaign unbeaten for the second time at 11-0-1. They went on to host the W-League Championship and claim their second title (video), putting the attention back on the men with a month left in the season. They answered with just one loss in their last six after the W-League title was won and finishing fourth. They opened the postseason with a 6-1 aggregate victory over Miami in the First Round and advanced to the championship game for the first time by downing the regular season champion and Canadian nemesis Montreal Impact 2-0 on aggregate in the semifinals. Vancouver vanquished its demons in dramatic fashion in the final by not only defeating three-time league champion Rochester 3-0 (video), but became the first road team to win a single-game final in league history.

2… Stadiums debut in Rochester, Atlanta
It was a long awaited moment in Rochester as PAETEC Park made its debut July 3, and it wasn’t the only one. Atlanta’s Re/Max Greater Atlanta Stadium also opened on the same night. A sold out crowd of 13,768 witnessed the historic opening of PAETEC Park, but had to endure a night of driving rain and wind as well as a bitter finish as the visiting Virginia Beach Mariners rallied with an equalizer in the 90th minute for a 2-2 draw. Down south, a standing room only crowd of 3,217 Silverbacks faithful got their first official taste of Silverbacks Park, where the finished complex will boast an expanded stadium, several soccer fields, a clubhouse and restaurant/bar. The Silverbacks christened the new ground with a 3-2 win over Southern rival Charleston Battery, who were the first USL team to build their own home back in 1999.

1… Romario signs with Miami
We started this list with the World Cup and, perhaps fittingly, we finish with a former World Cup MVP. Expansion side Miami FC sent headlines around the globe early in the year when they announced the signing of Romario. Coming to the club at the age of 40 in his quest to reach 1,000 career goals, the former Brazilian World Cup champion had led the Brazilian top flight the year before in scoring and despite a slow start, went on to do the same in the USL First Division, sharing the Scoring and Goal Scoring Championships with Seattle rookie Cam Weaver, the USL-1 Rookie of the Year. Romario was not alone on the squad with former World Cup teammate Zinho patrolling the midfield and finding himself as a finalist for the USL-1 MVP honor. Rumor has it Zinho will be back in blue for Miami in 2007.